Drexel, Mo. residents without water due to water main break

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DREXEL, Mo. -- A water shortage in the town of Drexel, Mo., about 50 minutes south of Kansas City, continued into its second day on Tuesday; an inconvenience for residents and loss of income for some businesses.

The city said on its Facebook page that a house fire on Monday depleted its water tower supply to low levels. It asked people to conserve.

Then, hours later, the city said it had found a leak in a remote area and were working to fix it. The water main break apparently happened during the fire. The city says once water is fully restored, there will be a boil order.

"There are people who live in third world countries and even in our native nations that don`t even have clean water. We are blessed to be able to have water and take baths," said Carol Nichols, a resident.

FOX 4 has a crew in Drexel, Mo., to see what effect the water issue is having on residents and businesses there. We found a Casey's convenience store had posted a sign to tell its customers that it was having problems serving them due to the water shortage. "No water, no bathrooms, no coffee, or soda," the sign said with an apology.

Casey's in Drexel, Mo

The grocery stores in Drexel have become the most popular places in town.

"Everybody rushed in and bought as much water as they could," said Trina Calvert, manager at the Food Fair of Drexel. "I think it makes it rough on everybody. We have public bathrooms and we've had to close those down to everybody. It makes it hard for our cook who does hot deli because we can`t wash dishes and stuff like that. Just doing without those things."

The water main break was discovered after firefighters put out the house fire on Coldwater Road. They don't know what caused it.

"What we tried to do last night after the water pressure was down we turned all of our pipes on to try to fill the tower up. In the process it ran all night but it did not fill our tower," said Patricia Drehler, city clerk. "We are doing what we can to get it repaired quickly. And please do boil the water until we let you know exactly when the water is clear again to drink."

City officials said they hope to get the water turned back on Tuesday evening, and when the water is turned on, a boil order will be issued.